Again, these aren’t resolutions; they’re just plans. And vague ones at that.
Kill All Monsters and The Cownt are priorities on the comics front. Kill All Monsters just needs a publisher, so I need to be more diligent about that. We’re just about ready to submit to a couple of more companies who needed a little more in their pitches than some of the others required. Not that we’ve heard back from everyone we initially sent it to, so there may be some following up to do if I can figure out how not to be a pest about it.
I want to get the Cownt one-shot finished and pitched by the end of the year. I’d love to see it in stores by then, and I think that’s possible, but let’s not get ahead ourselves just yet. Finishing the novel is another writing focus. Being smarter about business and marketing in general. Seeing if we can get Jesse vs. Machine Gun going again.
I think that’s enough writing goals.
Except that I’m very excited about the new digs that the old Blogarama crew have staked out. It’s going to be fun. And I’m changing the focus of my column over there slightly so that I can talk more about the kinds of comics I like most. There should be announcements by the end of the week. Maybe as soon as tomorrow.
As for this blog, I’m gonna keep on keeping on. I promised myself I wouldn’t make any more Announcements about the direction, so I won’t except to say that as my interests fluctuate, Adventureblog content probably will too.
On a personal level, I’m hoping to take Diane and David to Tallahassee this year. That’s where I grew up, but I haven’t been back in about 20 years. Yikes. Doesn’t seem that long. It’s way past time I introduced my family to those folks.
That should do it, eh? Like I said yesterday, 2008 had some disappointments and I’m still feeling that a bit. I don’t want to load 2009 up with too many expectations right away. If we keep things reasonable and just strive to make a little more progress, it’ll be a good year.
This comic is about a month old, because I was going to wait and review the whole three-issue mini-series at once. What changed my mind was taking a look at issue #2 a couple of weeks ago and remembering that they’re charging $3.99 per issue. I’m drawing a line around what I’ll spend for a stapled comic (as opposed to one that’s got a spine and goes on my bookshelf) and, except for the occasional one-shot super-duper-sized special, that line is $3. As Marvel and DC sneak their monthly series up into the $4/issue range, I’m becoming hard-nosed about what I’ll pay for.
IDW and some other smaller publishers have been charging $4 per issue for a while now and I haven’t minded it because it was rare compared to the rest of my monthly pile o’ comics. But now with Marvel and DC getting up there, I’m just not willing to pay that much anymore. Especially when the more economic book collections are always right around the corner.
So, I’ll check out the collected Monsterpocalypse book when it comes out, but instead of waiting that long to talk about it here, I thought a few, quick words about first impressions might be in order.
Generally speaking, I like the first issue. It’s different enough from what Jason and I are doing with Kill All Monsters that I’m not concerned about comparisons. Writer Stephan Nilson’s giant mechs are crew-driven as opposed to the single-pilot mechs in KAM. You wouldn’t think that would be a huge difference, but Nilson is really focusing on the crew of one particular mech whereas Jason and I are telling the story of three different pilots, meaning that we get to see more giant robots more often.
I’m not implying that more robots are inherently better though. “Better” comes down to the story you’re telling and Nilson’s off to a great start with his. The crew of the giant mech named Sky Sentinel is getting a new commander now that their former one’s been promoted to a sleeker, more prestigious mech called Defender X. There’s plently of robot vs. monster action, but the real story is about the crew’s dealing with its disappointment as the members fight amongst themselves and with their new commander. It’s an interesting approach and I’m counting on being able to watch the dysfunctional team pull together. I’m a sucker for that kind of story.
I’m just going to have to wait a while to read the rest of it.
I still haven’t seen the original, so I’m trying not to read too much about the American remake, but with Gore Verbinski producing, I have hopes that it’ll be really, really good.
In 123 AD, a disgraced Roman war hero is sent to defend a Roman garrison stationed in remote Scotland from a spate of mysterious killings. The hero reclaims his rightful warrior status by uniting with the local Druids and vanquishing a terrifying supernatural beast.
JOHNNY MONSTER #1 (of 3) story JOSHUA WILLIAMSON art & cover J.C. GRANDE
Johnny Monster is the world’s foremost super-star monster hunter, but what the world doesn’t know is that he was raised by the same monsters he’s “hunting”! Now, in order to save his adoptive family…he must fight them! From the acclaimed writer of DEAR DRACULA and Necessary Evil, Johnny Monster mixes Tom Strong with Godzilla movies by way of Tarzan and the Phantom to create a compelling and different monster mash!
FEBUARY 18 – 32 PAGES – FC – $3.50
(There’s actually a lot of cool stuff coming from Image in February, but I’ll save the other interesting ones to talk about next week.)
The Day the Earth Stopped
The Asylum is at it again, this time ripping off The Day the Earth Stood Still, but the alien invaders are a bunch of giant robots. You can’t say that The Asylum has bad ideas; it’s just the cheap execution of them that sucks.
I don’t know what I’m doing putting this way down here when clearly it needs a post all its own, but I thought maybe you’d like to see some art from Kill All Monsters! by me and Jason Copland.
Monsters vs. Aliens
What’s the world coming to when you have to send out giant monsters to fight giant robots?
I don’t play Collectible Card Games anymore. There’s something I don’t like about a game where the person with the most disposable income is able to buy rarer, more powerful cards and dominate. So, while I’m tempted by the concept and the gorgeous art I’ve seen so far, I won’t be playing the Monsterpocalypse card game.
I will however be reading the comic book. It sounds a lot like Kill All Monsters!, but I say there’s room for everyone’s giant robots vs. giant monsters comics.
How ’bout a sneaky peek at page one of Kill All Monsters. For those of you who saw the first version, we’re obviously getting to the robot vs. monsters action a lot faster in the new draft.
Jason Copland and I have had some nice forward movement on Kill All Monsters! that I’ll tell you about later, but in the meantime you should totally sign up for Jason’s email newsletter. Not only will you get the latest updates on Jason’s amazing work, you’ll also be eligible to win free art!
Here’s Jason to explain how it works:
Taking a page from the many industrious comic book creators who seem to have a way better handle on this whole “promote yourself” deal, I’ve added an option to my blog to subscribe to the monthly Jason Copland Newsletter. I know, not a very exciting title, is it?
And not only will it be informative but it will be rewarding, too! I’m going to offer chances to win original art/sketches! Postage paid!! But you have to subscribe to be eligible… so head on over to my blog at http://www.jasoncopland.com/ and sign up! (You can find the subscription box on the right hand side).
So, when Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill started talking about a 1780’s version of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and I saw that it included a dark, masked antihero in its ranks, I was curious to learn more. Imagine my excitement when I learned that though you can’t really tell it in O’Neill’s drawings, Dr. Syn is actually dressed like a scarecrow.
Now imagine how I feel that Disney is finally releasing their classic Dr. Syn TV series on DVD. I don’t know if it’s any good, but I aim to find out.
And now he’s going to be in a TV show about a “special science advisor” to the government who saves the world from mad scientists every week with the help of a “feisty female bodyguard.” It’s like they’re making TV just for me now.
Sheena stickers
I’ve experienced mixed results from Devil’s Due’s comics output, but man if I’m not excited about their new line of comics-related merchandise. I’m gettin’ some of those Sheena stickers.
I’ve already told you how to get your hands on free Atomic Roboin May. What I didn’t tell you is that that’s just the beginning of new Atomic Robo adventures. According to the press release I got:
“Red 5 Comics is pleased to announce that starting this fall, Atomic Robo will return as a continuing series, with (co-creators Brian) Clevinger and (Scott) Wegener on-board for over twenty issues of Robo exploits over the next three years.
“‘We couldn’t be happier to be able to share more of Robo’s adventures,’ said Clevinger. ‘I can promise more explosions and more punching, but the two are probably unrelated. Punching things until they explode is just bad strategy, even for a robot.’
“On the success of Robo, Wegener waxed, ‘It was Mark Twain who said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” The first time I drew Robo in a pair of cargo pants and muddy combat boots it was instant BFFs. Thank God other people seem to like the idea too.’”
Kill All Monsters! gets it wrong
In Kill All Monsters!, Jason Copland and I have humanity building giant robots and mecha suits to fight giant monsters. Robotics expert Daniel Wilson explains why that’s a bad idea. I hope he doesn’t mind my stealing homaging some of his suggestions, because burrowing, explosives-laden suicide robots are exactly what the comics industry needs.
